Police union to sell house next door to Stockton city manager

STOCKTON, Calif. - As part of the new agreement between the city of Stockton and the Stockton Police Officers Association, the union agreed to eventually sell the home it bought next door to City Manager Bob Deis.

Deis made it clear in earlier interviews what he thought of the union buying property literally next door.

"I feel like I'm living in Chicago in the 1930s. It's classic old-school intimidation," Deis said last year.

Union leaders said then and continue to say the home was for investment purposes, and just happened to be next door to Deis in a neighborhood near the University of the Pacific.

"What we want is to have a rental property, have some sort of investment property. It's been a goal for a long time," said association president Sgt. Kathryn Nance.

The new agreement with the city means the union won't rent to a police officer, will rent through a third party company, and will sell the home by November, 2015.

Nance insisted the union didn't just give, but gained, in its negotiations with the city.

"We did not just give in. There are things the city doesn't like and things we don't like. It was definitely a give and take," she said.

Deis turned down requests to be interviewed on the city's friendlier relationship with the police union. The home next door to his is available now, with rent at $1,100 a month.